1. You might think the more people read your common app essay the better, but I disagree.Too many opinions and your essay runs the risk of being pared down to blandness and lacking personality.

2. Start early. Yes procrastination is real. But you will find that writing supplemental essays is frustrating, draining, and difficult to get done in one go. It's extremely helpful to be able to lock your essays in a drawer when that frustration occurs and come back to them refreshed three days later.

3. Don't discard drafts. You can have a subpar draft that leads to an amazing essay. Maybe only a paragraph of your draft is really good, and becomes the focus of your next draft, before leading to your final essay. Maybe the last paragraph of the draft your wrote is actually where you want your essay to begin.

4. Keep in mind that at the end of the day, the most important factor in this process is luck.